Next month, I’ll be visiting the Cotswolds for a couple of days, staying between Gloucester and Cheltenham. Any recommendations for an interesting route, please? The Vertebrate guidebook has a Birdlip route, which I might do.

But what else should I consider? I’m not looking for anything particularly gnarly, more something show-casing the area, with a bit of variety. And maybe a teashop or two. Thanks!

Cleeve hill, Leckhampton hill, Cranham Woods and painswick beacon are all good spots which you could link up in a 3 to 4 hour ride which would show you some of the best bits of the Cotswold escarpment. Once you head further east the riding gets more undulating and is better suited to road riding than mountain biking.
unfortunately finding some of the best tracks requires some local knowledge, but even just heading out on the bridle ways will be good. Maybe try and pull something off Strava?

I can put something together for you in an old fashioned XC kinds way of you like.

When are you here? Could possibly show you around.

I’ve worked my way through all of these lately, loading the gpx maps onto my Wahoo.

Enjoyed all of them.

https://m.pinkbike.com/u/bubbleless/blog/cotswold-mountain-biking-routes.html

I rode the Bibury route from the Vertebrate book earlier this week. Don’t do that one. The “muddy puddle” they advise you to “splash through” at the end of Potlicker’s Lane (I kid you not) is actually a huge impassable lake of slurry of indeterminate depth (and contents). I had to retreat and detour a few miles to get around it. Never had to do that before…..

I know that ‘puddle’. To be fair, it has pissed it down for the best part of two weeks, but it’s never a ‘puddle’.

Its pretty goodish conditions up Birdlip woods and across to Stockwell and the viewpoint when you think how much rain we have had lately as said above start from Lecky Hill then down Saltley grange up woodlands trust over viewpoint and Birdlip wood over to Cranham woods which some are marked with white cycle pics on trees that might be a bit muddy but there is some dry weather on its way.

Thank you all, for this advice. The Pinkbike site looks very useful.

IHN, thanks for your kind offer, but I shall enjoy planning a route. And stopping to check the map gives me a good excuse for a rest . . .

You should check out the “field of doom” 😀